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(No Model.)

- P. A. PLANEGIN. METHOD 0E AND MEANS FOR REMOVING PARAEEIN FROM OILWELLS No. 573,142.- Patented Deo. 15, 189.6.

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-Y removalof the paraffin except on the surfac I I a citizen of theUnited States, residing at My present invention relates to oil-Wells,

Inoval of the parain which had accumulated in the crevices. Heated barsof metal have reached the bottom of the well it had cooled to a greaaccumulation ofparaflin, which has lled the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS-AFLANEGIN, or WASHINGTON, DISTRICT or COLUMBIA.

vMETHOD 0F AND MEANS FOR REMOVING PARAFFIN FROM OIL-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 573,142, datedDecember 15, .1896.

I l Application tiled April 7,1896. Serial No. 586,520. (No model' Toall whom it'jmay concern:- Beit known that I, FRANCIS A. FLANEGIN,

lV-ashington, inthe District of Columbia, have invented certain new anduseful Improve- -Iuents in Methods of and Means for Removing Parafiinfrom Oil-lVells.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.`

and has for its object the removal of paraiiin which accumulates in thecrevices of the oilbearing portion of the well.

To increase theilow of oil-wells, it has heretofore been the' practiceto explode torpedoes', which increased the capacity of the crevices byseparation, but the, parain was driven back into compactness in thecrevices,.so the increased flow was not effected by the rebeen loweredinto the oilbearing strata of wells for the purpose of heating water forremoving ythe paraiiin, but by the time the bar t degree, so that thewater could not be heated to the boiling-point, and the' result was thatbut little good was eected in the of thefwall of the well. Steam hasbeen it troduced into wells for the same purpose and the results were nobetter than produced by the heated metal.- Steam has also beenconducted4 into wells through pipes extending to thebot-tom-of va. welland communicatingwith Electrical heaters' have also operated-upon asmall portion of the creviccs trate. the crevice's to any considerableextent' and remove the parain therefrom, because oI--the limitationsnature imposes uponthe ggvrer of the'heated body to diffuse its heatyoud #certain distance from' tlie'heated Because of the impracticalcharacter of the;

several means' enumerated, thousands of 'oilwells havebeen 'abandoned onaccount of the 'crevices in the well and prevented the flow of oil.

It is my purposeA to remove paraffin from oil-Wells by heating a liquid,preferably petroleum-oil or its distillate, to the boiling` point as aminimum degree of heat, augment andinaintain the heat to produceebullition, and circulate the liquid through the heater, on the surfaceof the walls, and into and out of the crevices in the oil-bearing rockor other strata from which the oil issues to dissolve `the paraffin,open thc Crevices, and cause the melted paraiiin to form a union withthe hot petroleum, coal-oil, gasolene, benzene, or other distillate orliquid.

The invention will be fully disclosedinltheyI A following specificationand claims.

In the accompanyingdrawings, which forml part of this specification,Figu l represents' avertic'al section of an oil-wel showing the heaterin the bottom of the Well surrounded by a liquid; Fig. 2, a verticalsection of the heater, on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3, a transversesectionon the line 3 3, Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a

side View of a section of the core of the heater; e Fig. 5, a section ofthe Wall of the same, and

Fig. 6 a top plan view of the electrical contact-disk detached.

Reference being had to the drawings andthe letters thereon, A indicatesan oil-Awell,'

B its casing, and C the heater.

The heater consists o f a cent-ral porcelain core a, which is preferably'made `hollow 'and provided with external spiral grooves b c, running inopposite directions, the former to receive andjsupport the positive wired-,and the latter the negative wire e, which are electrically connectedto the main and like positive and negative cables D E, which extend tothe top of the well and are attached to a suitable generator ofelectricity, (not .shown-J and around said core is an insulating-jacketf, preferably f mica, and 'serves as a cond uctor of heat and anou-conductor of electricity. The cord with its jacket rests' upon aseat g, of, plaster-of-pars, in the lower end. of and resting u n the,lower head h of the metal tuberi, w ich maybe made of ordinary gas orsteam pipe and surrounds and incloses the core a` and its jacket f, andat the upper eud roo" of-paris or other suitable material, `irvrhichisprovided with a 'central bore Z, preferabiy conical, anda vertical holem, through the latter of which connectionis made with the wire d and thecable D, and through the former connection is made with the wire e andcable tion extends throughV the bo're lof the block k into the tubularcore a to make electrical contact with the upper end of thenegative'wire e, which is passed throughtl hole q in the upper end ofthe core and brought Ato the -center of the core, so 'that the disk pwill engage it when inserted. 'lhe projection-o is alsoprovided with abore r, through which the -lower end of the negative cable E extends andmakes electrical contact with the disk or button p, or a separate pieceoflwi're maybe used to connectthe cable with the disk. Through the upperportion of the block n is allelesI for the passage of the lower end ofthe positive cable D.

Surrounding the upper portionof the projection o of the block 'n andresting upon'the upper side ofV the block k is a disk t, of copper,which serves to connect the wire d and the cable D electrically. Thedisk lispro-v.

vided with a central openingu, through which the projection o passes,and with a hole fu, through which the lower end of the cable D passesand is secured on the under side ofthe disk by upsetting orspreading thewires which compose the cable.

The block k is held down in connection with the upper end of the core aby the 11p-- per cap w of the tube i, which engages the upper surface ofthe block n, and also secures it in its position inthe block k.

The cap w-may be provided with a bail y, by which to lower the heaterinto a well and withdraw it therefrom by a suitable line, (not sl1own,)but it is my purpose to lower and raise the heater through the medium ofthe cables D and E.

Thetube i is surrounded by a casing z, of -galvanized iron or othersheet metaljand preferably extends above and below-the tube t andl iscontracted at its ends a' and b'and forms an annular chamber c' betweenthe tube andthe casing, through which chamber h ql'lid F, preferablycrude petroleum, coaloil, gasolene, or other distillate of petroleumoil,is circulated, thc cooler liquid entering at the bottom of the heaterandbeingdischarged at the upper end into the center of the body ofliquid inY the well, and by its circulation through the chamber c' isheated to such a degree as to produce ebullitionof the liquid, in whichstate the liquid is brought in contact with the parain coating thesurface of the bore of the well in the oil-bearing rock and forcedinto'the crevices 'of the rock and ydissolves-,Tand by the motionimparted to the liqthe well after the heater has been withdrawn from thewell either by the force of the gas vT he contracted ends 'of the casingz serve to guide the heater in its descent and ascent in a -well andprevent its lodging on joints. of the casing or projections in the wellbelow the casing of the well, and in the operation .of the heaterlin awell the cold or'cooler liquid enters at the bottom of the heater, is

"heated and expanded in 'the chamber c', and

expelled at the vupper end, the liquid being directed by 'the contractedupper end of the 'heater toward the center of the body-of liquid in the.well, which `causes the cooler liquid adjacent to the wallof the well todescend rapidly andrenter the heater at its lower liquid through .theheater. IThe casing z is maintained in proper relative position withreference to the tube i by braces d'.' v

Liquid having been supplied to a well and the heater C having been letdown into the well and the cables D E-attached to a d ynamo or othergenerator of electricity, the current which is now free to pass'throughthe crevices Aor by a pump.

`end `and elect a thorough circulation of the is turned on and the corea and its jacket f roo heated to incandescence and the tube i heated bythe heat radiated from the core. The liquid which lls the chamber c' isheated to such a degree that it boils and produces ebullition oftheliquid and causes it to rise in the chamber and discharge atthe-upper end of the heater, while cold or cooler liquid enters thechamber c at its lower end and thus causes and maintains a thorough andconstant circulation of the liquid through the heater, the heat. beingcontinually augmented bythe current of electricity and maintained untilthe IIC paraiiin has been melted off the surface of theV bore of thewell and out of the crevices in the OiLbeariug strata of the well, theliquid being' x i5 expanded by -the heat and forced into the most remoteparts of the oil-bearing rock throughthe crevices.

In flowing wells the pressure'of gas at the head of the casing willindicate'. the progress' being made in the. removal of parali'in.

The` heater may vary in length from four to solvent* to theboilngQpoint, crculxttng the per -end and forming a ch'ambe between the:Ao

solvent inthe wellanditscrevces,augn1cnt heater amil the easing.-

ing the heat and maintaining the circulation b In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature of the schaun-thereby dissolving .the paran inpresence of two witnesses.'

Abycontactwith the solvent and removingthe y v solvent and containedparaffin from thewell. g l l? RANCI A FIAA EG1\ 3. A device for removingparaffin from oil Witnesses:

wells, consisting of aheater provided with a i D. C. REINOHL,

surrounding casing-having vn contracted np- 1 yD. WEIMER .Ii-msnm.. I

